Biting through the glass ceiling

By Elaine HuntDaily News correspondentDentistry has been a male-dominated profession for decades but the practice is on the cusp of being evenly s

Dr. Tracy Portnoff, a dentist who practices in Westborough, recalled being whistled at while walking through a nearly all-male clinic floor before an interview at New York University Dental School with a group of other women in 1992.“I was horrified,” said Portnoff. “You can’t get away with the things today that we were exposed to."In 1990 there were 373 licensed female dentists in Massachusetts. In 2013, there were 1,622, according to a Massachusetts Dental Society representative. Today, women make up 25 percent of the MDS membership, which is headquartered in Southborough.These numbers reflect practicing dentists, but statistics from Tufts Dental School – the largest in the state – suggest the gender balance will continue to shift as the next generation of dental students begins practicing.Tufts Dental School, which has consistently remained ahead of the gender curve, was 41 percent women in 1993. In 2013, it was 54 percent women, according to Dr. Maria Papageorge, the department chair of oral and maxillofacial surgery at Tufts University School of Dental Medicine.“People are more open-minded now,” said Papageorge. “Each generation removes gender biases – either conscious or unconscious.”Papageorge said the female dental students she sees are especially good students, and loyal and devoted to their studies and to the field, which is helping them develop into good dentists and stick with the career.Women, more than men, are also drawn to dentistry because of the flexible schedule, Portnoff said.“It’s a great field for women to get into because you can manage your schedule,” said Portnoff. “Lots of us work five or six days a week at the beginning (of our career) then take a step back to raise a family and work two or three days a week.”As dentistry moves away from the traditional “old boys' club” - as recently as 1972, national figures show that only 2 percent of dentists were women - more women are encouraged to join, despite the low number of female role models in the field.When Portnoff began practicing dentistry in 1997, she joined the MDS. She now co-chairs the society's standing committee on women in dentistry“At first I was intimidated, but it was perhaps self-imposed,” said Portnoff. Now, she said, she’s “a lot more welcome, and my opinion matters, and is equal.”Papageorge predicts that patients will start to see more female licensed dentists over the next 10 to 20 years. Over time, she said, the number of male and female dentists will probably become, and continue to be, about equal.“We’ve hit a sweet spot here, around 50-50, and numbers will probably vary,” said Dr. David Goodman, a dentist who practices in Milford. “But variance is great – we want the best applicants (at dental schools) no matter their gender.”“Society is 50-50, so there’s no reason we can’t have the same in the profession.”

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